Trump's 20-point Plan

The Liberal Democrats welcome what appears to be genuine progress towards securing an end to the war in the form of President Trump’s 20-point plan for peace in Gaza.

The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is unconscionable - both for the hostages still held in brutal captivity by the Hamas terrorists, and for the millions of Palestinians whose lives and communities have been devastated by the Israeli Government’s ever-expanding offensive.

We have therefore called on the government to put all of its efforts into securing a new and permanent ceasefire. Anything less to bring about an end to the immense human suffering in Gaza would be an abject moral failure.

President Trump’s plan is not a full road-map towards the two-state solution that the UK supports. It does not, for example, address settlement expansion in the West Bank.

We continue to call for the introduction of a law prohibiting trade between the UK and illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as well as the sanctioning of Israeli Ministers who advocate for the illegal displacement of Palestinians. It would be utterly wrong if the UK were helping the sustainability or development of those settlements.

However, the immediate crisis is in Gaza and Trump’s plan does represent meaningful progress towards the desperately needed ceasefire there.

Now, with the renewed hope of this latest ceasefire proposal, we cannot allow Hamas to act as a blocker to the peace, dignity and security which both Israelis and Palestinians deserve and desperately desire.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, and our Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Calum Miller, wrote to the Prime Minister on 1st October urging the government to apply pressure on Hamas to agree to these latest terms, and to show that Hamas’s refusal would have tangible consequences. You can read this letter here